Daedalus Rising
by LeonaWriter
Summary: When Crow becomes the last Dark Signer instead of Rex, and the man is forced to face certain truths he had tried to leave behind, never mind an ugly clash of rare hope at discovery, and the awful understanding of the situation at hand.
1. Chapter 1

_"If Yuusei wins against my brother,"_ Rex remembered telling Crow, _"tell him that I'll be waiting."_

Looking out at the darkening sky, realising that seventeen years' worth of planning had been derailed in a matter of minutes, he wondered where it had all gone wrong.

When Crow had found him, perhaps. There was the slim possibility that he had given too much away.

Earlier than that, when he had lacked the courage, the determination, to use his brother as his method of becoming reborn as a Dark Signer. Another way, he had told himself. But not this. Not to have this become his last memory of the brother who had once, and still was, so close to him.

Earlier still, with how he'd brought them together in the first place, starting with drawing Jack into Neo Domino, partly to tempt Yuusei into coming after him, partly to keep Jack himself safe as well.

Or was it in letting go of his old friend's son, losing contact, not knowing who he grew up with and the sort of life he had gone on to lead? He had been so busy with first the bridge, then with attaining his position and cutting all ties to Satellite for fear of repercussions, that regardless of how powerful he had become, he had never the courage to do exactly what he had wanted to be able to, and what his heart - hardened after so many years alone and without anyone to trust, he'd left everyone for dead even his brother turned against him, his wife lost in the incident said brother had caused, made cold after many years from learning the hard way that dreams don't get you anywhere and hard work might pay off but not always in the way you intended - had yearned for, even after all this time.

Perhaps it was further back still, with countless incidents, moments in his life that could have gone one way or another.

Or maybe it wasn't his fault at all, and merely the fates laughing at him, playing a cruel trick on the man who would have been a god.

The sky was darkening, and the others were heading his way, guided by the Crimson Dragon's power to find the fifth Signer. A part of him wondered if they would know to expect a severed arm instead of a full person.

Red light nearly blinded him as it pierced through all windows and cracks, the Crimson Dragon's power in evidence, and as he put up an arm to shield his eyes from the worst of it, he began to make his way down to meet them, resigning himself to the inevitable.

The Signers would not be pleased. He had told them what to expect, and now... this.

He closed his eyes briefly as he opened the door to the mansion, fooling himself for precious seconds into thinking that, maybe, he would see the boy standing with the others.

Of course he wasn't. It was a fool's dream to think that he would have been.

In return for the lapse, he barely managed to dodge and block a fist that came flying at his face from Jack Atlas.

He held his expression in check as quietly disapproving of the violence, even if internally he could completely understand why the boy felt that way.

"_Bastard!_ What the hell happened to _Crow?!"_

Rex had watched over and managed Jack's career ever since he'd arrived in the city, and he knew the boy's moods easily. But not once up until this point had he been so attuned, not once had Rex wanted to feel the same thing.

His chest was aching in confusion and pain, but he shoved it out of the way, to be dealt with later. If there was a 'later' with which to deal with it.

"You ask me as though I would know what events had taken place in my absence. I can tell you now, that all I know of Crow is less still than you. Merely... that he became a Dark Signer, through unforeseen and unknown circumstances."

For a moment, Jack looked like he was going to try hitting Rex again, but thankfully he didn't try, merely looking unsatisfied with glaring at him for all he was worth.

"But Crow was one of the _good_ guys," said the boy, interrupting the moment. Rua. That was his name. Twin brother of Ruka, the Signer who held the Ancient Fairy Dragon.

Jack, Rex noted, became avoidant at the boy's words, touching a place on his coat, possibly where he was keeping some item or other. Yuusei's eyes narrowed.

He wasn't the only one to have lost someone important. That, he had to remember. Perhaps it might give him the strength he needed in order to do what needed to be done.

"Such things are of no consequence when one has been chosen by any of the Earthbound Gods. Even were one's intentions pure, contact with one of the gods would twist and distort them. And I am sure that you already know what happens to those with the strength of mind to rebel against the will of their god," he added, spears of pain in his chest - _his heart, his heart was hurting, how long had it been since his heart had hurt like this_ - causing him to frown, rather than outright flinch.

"The Condor geoglyph appeared by the unfinished Daedalus bridge, or rather, where it would end in Neo Domino were it finished," Yuusei said carefully, and how was it only now that he realised that Professor Fudo's son had been watching him closely the entire time? "He's going to want a riding duel. Jack and I will be going to meet him."

They all knew what he meant by 'meet'. This would be no friendly reunion. This would be a battle. Until either side were defeated - in which case, either Crow disappeared as the others had or both Yuusei and Jack died before anyone else, and then darkness would rule over them - or until the King of the Netherworld made it to the Condor geoglyph.

Perhaps if he hadn't caved to sentiment, that would have been him, and he would have had the aim of rebuilding the world into one where there would be no more Signer wars, where no one else would need to go through such a thing. He wondered if he would have faced Crow then, if he had, as well as those in front of him.

But such thinking was merely wasting time.

"Hey!" It was Rua again. "I can fight too!"

"No. You can't ride a D-Wheel, Rua," Yuusei said, "and you'd end up making it difficult for the one who was carrying you."

"Yeah, yeah..."

Dejected the boy might look, but he did not seem rebellious - at least, not in this instance, with so much riding at stake. A small relief.

"Then allow me to join you."

All of the assembled Signers and their hangers-on turned to him once more.

"Godwin," Yuusei started with a frown, "it would be dangerous. There's no way of knowing how much protection the Crimson Dragon could give you, even with your brother's arm."

Ah, so they knew, then. Rudger must have revealed it to them in his duel.

"Besides," Jack said, still looking like he wanted to inflict a world of pain on Rex, "I've never even seen you duel. As far as I know, you don't even have a D-Wheel!"

Of course, all Jack himself was aware of when it came to Rex's duelling capabilities was the fact that he could, and that he had a deck.

Rex's eyes closed, and against his will the fist of his real arm clenched. This wasn't how he'd hoped for it to happen. But could he really turn away now that he'd come this far? With this much at stake? All for the sake of a few secrets that may well have been aired even had events gone as planned.

"Ah," he said. "That. I am afraid I'll have to find one to borrow for the duration, as mine... that is, my old one... is currently owned and operated by someone else."

He'd known it for a fact from the moment he'd passed by the bike on his way into Old Momentum. Aesthetically it was as different as could be, but the general schematics, the measurements... there was no mistaking the D-Wheel he himself had built from scratch.

"_What?_"

Jack, astonished.

"Who?"

Yuusei, still watching him steadily, with an expression Rex wasn't too comfortable with.

"I do not see how that is of any importance."

"Godwin. There are things you aren't telling us. If you're going to fight alongside us, we're going to have to do it together, or not at all."

Had it really been so long since he'd hated the way everyone's eyes were on him? Perhaps not. He had garnered the attention of the public more than once in an inappreciable way, but the experience that this put him in mind of most were the looks those in Satellite had sent his way when he had first started to build Daedalus.

Personal. Uncomfortable. Something he would have to work through.

"It is... currently in Crow's hands," he allowed.

The widening of Yuusei's eyes told him that the boy knew enough to put at least some of the pieces together. Not all of them, by far, but enough.

No one else could know just how much Crow reminded him of himself, at that age. No one else could think to connect him to _her_ - the little things he'd tried to forget, tried to put to the back of his mind, but came back at the slightest provocation.

No. No one here could even suspect that much.

"That's the Blackbird," Yuusei said carefully, his eyes meeting Rex's, "and Crow told me he'd built it himself. But we don't have the time to argue details."

"What?! But Yuusei-!"

"Jack."

The two shared a look, Jack narrowing his eyes and Yuusei fixing his friend with an stare that was achingly familiar to Rex - his father had had eyes like that - until Jack looked away with a grunt.

"Hn! Do what you want. Find a D-Wheel, if you can. Just don't slow us down."

"I can guarantee you, that is the last thing I would want to do."

It had been many years since he'd ridden a D-Wheel with its original purpose in mind, but far be it from him to be caught out unprepared. He excused himself, and went to seek out one that would best work to his advantage, trying to not think of the reason why, of who he would be facing.

It was bad enough that his plans had been torn to shreds, and they would, sooner or later, be revealed.

But his composure was cracking, and bringing all of the pain that he'd thought he'd left behind back with it. Losing was not on his agenda, and neither was bringing down his fellow duelists in the upcoming duel.

Instead, he worried for himself. For the secrets he knew would come out into the open that he had never planned for. Feared, for the outcome of the duel. For what would happen to Crow afterwards, either way.

_And to think, _a part of him whispered back, _if things had gone to your plan, then you would be the one they would be swearing to take down._

And that would be fine by him, as long as his goal had come to fruition. Even should they defeat him the world would, at least, be rid of the threat of the Dark Signers for another five thousand years.

_Hypocrite._

He'd been one for as many years as he could remember, ever since Zero Reverse. Saying one thing to one person, and another to the next. Trying to save Satellite, and then reinforcing the separation the moment he had the power. The word had no longer held any meaning for him.

_And if it's all just a trick of your mind? Something you're telling yourself out of misplaced hope?_

It had been some fifteen years since he'd given up on misplaced hope. Around that time, too, he had stopped seeing the dead in every face he passed in the street. Lost potentials and maybes in every child.

He could not say for certain that Crow was definitely his just yet. But so many things pointed to the theory being truth, an awful truth with recent events in mind, that while his head, full of plans and strategies and scientific logic, told him to not get too attached... his heart, the heart that had held on to his brother even after all of these years, that had kept tabs on his friend's boy and stepped in when things had proceeded too far in the facility... his heart would not let go, and refused to listen.

Rex knew how dangerous it would be, as he drove out to meet the others.

He could only hope that the pain from knowing who Crow _might be_ didn't kill him before Crow himself had a chance to.

Yuusei nodded to him as he approached once more, D-Wheel in tow.

"Godwin. Ready?"

The others all were.

He nodded, once.

It didn't matter if he truly was or not. There was a battle to be fought. It was with that thought that the Crimson Dragon's power took them up and transported them all to where he was...

Crow.

_"I have two gods within me, but I have chosen the path of darkness! Run. RUN!"_

He had thought that he had lost everything once before, and run, he had. Thoughts of his brother only made the ache in his chest deepen.

This time, he would not run. More than that, he could not.

He had a duty, after all. To Satellite. To Neo Domino. To himself.

To the one facing them, a new insanity in his eyes that he was sure would haunt him if he even survived.


	2. Chapter 2

_"There is only one way to hurt a man who's lost everything. Give him back something broken."_  
— Stephen R. Donaldson, Against All Things Ending

Rex gritted his teeth as he came face-to-face with what had become of Crow. Clothed all in black and the purple of the Condor, with his grey - _grey eyes, how rare a thing, in Japan, even rarer in Satellite - _eyes overpowered by the now-black sclera. It was unnerving how much had not changed, just as much as how much had. His hair still shot straight up, an almost luminous orange in the night with the main light coming from the geoglyph itself, his stance recognisable even with the cloak flying behind him in the wind.

'Blackbird', as they called it, at least had been spared any such drastic changes, even if the orange that had highlighted the bike had been tainted to match his robes.

The boy smirked, and started to walk over. The expression was different from the last time they'd met. Crueler. Unrelenting.

"Hah! So you're finally here, huh? Took you long enough!"

"Crow-! You- _why are you doing this?"_

He began to laugh, a somewhat unhinged quality to the laughter that set Rex on edge. He'd wanted to avoid seeing this from Rudger. Fate was cruel indeed to instead gift him with it from his- from Crow.

"Jack! Yuusei! You of all people should know - the only way this could be settled is through a duel! If you want me to tell you anything, you're going to have to fight me for it! And you'd better be quick - the longer we stick around chatting, the closer the King of the Underworld gets to the geoglyph and your precious temple!" The last was aimed at Rex himself

"Crow..."

"You aren't being yourself," Rex said, interrupting whatever Yuusei had been about to say. "When we talked, you expressed your wish for the bridge to be completed. How can it be finished if everyone is dead?"

"_Spare me_. You really think I'd buy that coming from _you_? You- you could've had it finished any time! But you _chose not to."_

He'd known it was a long shot, but even somewhat prepared he still found himself frowning as Crow stalked off with a suddenly cold expression back to the Blackbird, and set the ground rules for the duel.

Three against one. He, Yuusei and Jack would all have four thousand life points, and Crow would have the same amount as the three of them put together.

The two Signers knew Crow's deck much better than he did, but had given him a few spare warnings on their way here. _He swarms the field, and all of his monsters support one another, _Yuusei had said. _I don't know whether that would have changed, but keep it in mind_.

He probably should have let Yuusei go first, or Jack. But he found himself revving the bike forwards, to come almost level with the black-and-purple bike that had once been his.

"Crow!" He said, ignoring the surprise of the others and Crow's own annoyance. "I don't know what you're trying to achieve through this, but it isn't going to work! The god's powers are warping whatever you had in mind!"

But words alone weren't going to get through to him, that much was evident. He drew, and made his move. Two cards face down. One summon, defence mode, that had an effect when flipped.

Crow only laughed his efforts off.

"That's the best ya can do? Ha! Somehow, I ain't surprised!"

..._What?_

Something in the way that was said put him ill at ease, but he held his tongue and eased the hitch in his breath.

Nothing. It was probably nothing. Taunts, to throw him, and the others, off their game. He ended his turn.

Next came Yuusei, who spoke to Crow of their bond, their friendship, trying to speak to the part of their opponent that hadn't been taken over yet. Who knew if he would be successful, but it certainly seemed to not have the desired effect just yet. A fact that only made Yuusei more determined.

"And the kids, Crow! If you continue with this, what happens to them? You lost them once, if you don't stop, you'll lose them forever!"

"You don't get it, Yuusei! I'll rise above it! Above it _all_, and _I'll _be the one to decide! I've had enough of leaving things to you guys, and now I've got the power I'm damn well gonna use it!"

_I wanted to be a god,_ Rex mused. _How much of that would have been me? Would I have been able to have resisted the pull?_

_And if I hadn't known about Crow... would I have wanted to?_

The answer in its simplicity was what unnerved him, and as he forced himself to focus on the here and now, the turn passed to Jack, the boy's tactics almost as familiar to him as his own after two years of watching him duel in the stadium under his gaze, although there were some elements that were new, brought on by the presence of his friends - and a new factor entirely, in the form of the reporter he'd heard that Jack had stayed with shortly after the Dark Signers had made their move.

"My turn!" Crow, now. "I special summon Servant of the Hellgod - Blood-Red Dawn, since my field's empty and yours isn't! Then I'll summon this guy, and attack Godwin's defense monster!"

Rex's eyes widened - why him, why not either of the other two? - and flinched away at the impact as his monster was destroyed.

"This isn't rising above anything! You're only-"

"Oh yeah? Only _what?_ C'mon, answer me, GODWIN! Isn't it your own tower the King of the Underworld's heading towards? I should thank you for that!"

He could feel Yuusei and Jack's eyes on him, judging him.

"Go on! Try and tell me I shouldn't!"

When he didn't answer, Crow started to laugh again, much like he had before. Rex gripped the bike, unable to contest what was being said.

"Godwin. What is the meaning of this?"

He couldn't stop him. What good were excuses and pretty lies up against the truth?

"I..." He hesitated. Could he say it? In the end, when it all came down to it?

Even more, could he believe in himself again, that old self who had built the bridge and flown with only the hopes of Satellite and his own dreams, to face off against fate and win?

"Fate has never been kind to me. I had intended to do something - something drastic - that would have put me in your place, Crow. To become a god, and use the power of both forces to remake the world, so that there would be no more Signer wars... But faced with the fact of what that would mean, at the last moment I couldn't do it!"

"Godwin... you...!"

That was Jack. And perhaps the fragile trust he'd hoped that they could have during the duel was already shattered, but he could at least trust in their bond with Crow, even if they had no love of Rex himself.

"I activate the trap card, A Hand From Perdition! It allows me to special summon one level four or lower Heavenly Halo monster from my deck or graveyard when one is sent from the field to the graveyard, and draw one card."

The new monster took its comrade's place running in front of him, but it was little comfort.

"Haha-haahaha-! As if that's gonna help you any! Who d'you think you're kidding, anyway? It's not as if those two are gonna trust you after this! Turn end!"

"Crow! Didn't you say yourself, that a bond is more important than what a person might have done? You were the one who kept me fighting, before! In return, we're going to keep fighting with all we've got to get you back. All of us!"

"Hn! That god has to be messing with your head, because you should know there's no way this Jack Atlas would be swayed so easily!"

Rex closed his eyes briefly, and hardened himself.

"My turn!"

He drew. With one tuner on the field from the previous turn, he was able to summon another monster with 'Heavenly Halo' in its name to the field - and in doing so made it possible for him to synchro summon, to match Jack's Red Daemons Dragon that was already on the field. The new monster lit up the area surrounding him with its light, but didn't seem to faze Crow in the slightest.

"HAH-hahaheh, nice monster, 'god wannabe!' But I'm gonna break that halo in two! You can try all you want, but I'm gonna-"

"What? Rise above me? Open up a new possibility? With how you are now, How are either of those possible? How can you say that you are trying to live up to the ideal of the Legendary D-wheeler with _this?"_

"Gk-! You _leave that out of it! _What even gives you the right to mention him!"

"You're Icarus, Crow! You tried to follow in his - in MY footsteps! But-"

_"The hell are you saying, bastard?!"_

_That I shouldn't have assumed that you perished along with her. That just because they found her body, and you were such a small child... not even a year old..._

But it was too soon for that. Too soon.

"You heard me."

"Godwin..."

"TRAP, ACTIVATE! RAGE OF THE HELLGOD!" Crow screamed, flinging out a hand to flip the trap. "All players controlling Synchro monsters other than the player controlling this trap take a thousand damage for each Synchro on the field!"

Rex's breath caught as the dark energy flared towards him and Jack - Yuusei, thankfully, didn't meet the requirements of the trap, but that still left two of them with two thousand or less life points and he could feel Jack glaring at him from behind.

Of course. This was a Shadow Duel - even if other elements hadn't already been in play, the damage was real and he hadn't had any defence against it.

"Kh-! Turn... _end_..."

Yuusei and Jack continued the duel against their friend with all of the flow of those who knew each others' decks by heart. Crow's monsters and their support were obviously not his usual, but they were treated with an eerie amount of familiarity, as though they were similar, yet tainted versions of old friends. Yuusei tried to use this against him, tried to back up Rex himself, but he could see that Crow's patience was wearing thin, and most of that anger was aimed towards not Yuusei, who was trying to reach out to him, not Jack, who didn't care what happened as long as Crow was brought back to his senses (preferably, if Rex knew Jack at all, with an adequate beatdown), but Rex himself.

He should have seen it, and he berated himself for being so rash as to think that it would be so easy as to say '_I'm the one you were always looking up to, trust in me, let go, stop this'_. Of course the boy didn't want to see what was right in front of his face. It was only natural.

But then - why did it still hurt?

"My turn! I activate the magic card, 'No Stars In Hell', and it allows me to lower the level of one of my opponent's monsters and add the same number to one of my own! I choose Jack's Red Daemons Dragon, and move the stars over to Servant of the Hellgod - Frostbite!"

The offended noise that came from his old protégé - though who knew whether the term would stay relevant even should they win and the world wasn't devoured in darkness - would have been amusing had it been under any other set of circumstances.

But Frostbite was a Dark Tuner, and with the stars added...

"Servant of the Hellgod - Galeforce! Servant of the Hellgod - Frostbite! Darkened gales, become the wings that blot out the sun and leave the world in shadows! Dark Synchro! Ally of the Hellgod - Dragon of the Decapitator!"

It was here. A dragon with 'legs' like a spider's and the black feathers of its wings that were dyed red with each monster it defeated.

"Do you really think this is the sort of legacy that I wanted to pass on to you? Crow! Think-"

"SHUT UP! I ain't listening! D'you really think I'd believe any of those lies?!"

"What would I have to gain from lying about such a thing?" He cursed internally, wondering if was being too specific, and if anyone would notice. "It is true that at one point, I may have made decisions that would have lead to my being in your place... but like I did once before, I went against fate! Even if it took something just as important from me instead!"

For his flight from the bridge, he had lost his arm. By not sacrificing himself and instead giving in to sentiment, he had lost Crow. The only reason he was still able to fight was because he could not imagine being able to look himself in the eye... or Crow... if the Signers were somehow able to win and he hadn't tried his hardest to reach the one important person left to him.

"Dragon of the Decapitator! _Attack Godwin's monster!"_

He grunted as the attack hit, dealing damage to his lifepoints and making his bike skid, causing him to wish he'd spent more time practicing his riding skills as well as everything else.

Crow's turn ended, thankfully without too much more damage to himself or the other two boys riding with him.

But he couldn't have not heard Jack, even barely audible, over the audio capabilities of the D-wheels that were present due to the difficulties of duelling at high speeds, not always being able to hear your opponent...

_"It can't be...! Godwin, you're...?!"_

"Jack!"

One shout from Yuusei. One warning, and that was all it took for him to realise that, inadvertently, the only one who still did not know the secret he had been trying to keep was the one it was most important to.

It was Yuusei's turn - he drew - and yet Rex found himself resigning himself to the inevitable. Sooner or later, the truth was going to come out whether it was under his control or not, and he would prefer it to be from his own mouth than anyone else, and not have the betrayal of having deliberately kept this from the boy even when it was no longer necessary added to his list of reasons to hate.

And so he told the story. The duel continued as he recounted but briefly certain things that they all would know already. Of how he, his brother and Yuusei's father had been developing Momentum, how Rudger had gone, and when he'd come back changed, set events in motion that would create Zero Reverse, and open up the way for the Dark Signers.

He told of how Yuusei's father had sent the boy to safety, and he had been the one to take him someplace safe, make sure he was raised properly, knowing his own name.

He told of how, after that, he had cut ties, looking out over the water from Satellite, and eventually made his first attempt at defying fate... and built what would become the Daedalus Bridge. How when Security came looking for him he had to choose from one of two options - allow himself to be arrested, or to become a legend, and fly. He told them how he had flown, and how doing so had cost him his arm.

And when Yuusei destroyed Crow's Dragon of the Decapitator... anything. To put off the inevitable, to keep the God from being summoned.

And so... he told them, amid Crow's protests, his insults, his denial, through Jack's disbelief and Yuusei's quiet acceptance, how in the aftermath he had tried to find her, only to be told that her name was among those who had been officially declared deceased as a result of the 'natural disaster'. How he had never once thought that a child as young as theirs had been could possibly have survived...

Crow shook his head, frantically, a motion that could be seen even from behind his D-wheel.

"It's not true. You're _lying. LYING!"_

In the end, even that wasn't enough to so much as pause the advent of the god; Crow's anger only built up more and more each turn, attacks becoming yet more vicious and defenses rash, yet at the same time just as dangerous.

Because the turn, God was summoned.

"Crow, you can't do this!"

"Don't try thinking you can tell me what to do, Yuusei! GODWIN! I KNOW WHO I AM, AND IT'S GOT NOTHING TO DO WITH YOU!"

_"The kids, Crow!"_ Yuusei shouted, pleading for just a shred of sense. _"How do you know you aren't sacrificing them as well as everyone else?!"_

Crow began to laugh. The condor cried out, a roar that reverberated around the sky, as if to echo the futility of questioning the last Dark Signer.

"You really don't get it! _I'm the one in charge!_ I'm the one who gets to say who gets sacrificed! _And if I say they're gonna be fine then they're damn well gonna be fine!"_

"And what about _you_, Crow? What about all of the people who would do for you what you're trying to do for your kids? _Have you even thought about what you're doing to them?"_

Rex's eyes widened slightly for a moment as he realised what Yuusei was trying to do. Then again, he should have seen it coming; this was Yuusei, and more than that, this was Dr. Fudo's son.

It would only take a moment, and with Wiraqocha Rasca's effect, the ability to skip the battle phase in order to reduce the opponent's life to one single point left-

Crow activated the Earthbound God's effect. Yuusei braced himself, as Jack cried out in protest. Rex couldn't take the risk.

"Trap, activate! Life Exchange!"

_"What?"_

With the god's effect redirected at him instead of Yuusei, the blast knocked his D-wheel off balance, skidding from one side of the track to another. It was all he could do to simply keep upright, let alone from falling the height from the suspended geoglyph to the sea far below.

It was because of this, the bike teetering and scraping against the lines keeping them in, that caused the already damaged compartment at the back to start flapping open.

_No. NO!_

But he was still having trouble righting himself, let alone able to catch anything, just one small thing, as it fell out.

Time seemed to stop. His eyes closed - with only one lifepoint left, there was little to fight with.

It was gone. His last remaining link to his brother. The symbol of his promise.

He didn't even hear the splash as it hit the water.

He almost didn't notice as the bike failed further, tires and metal squealing, giving out underneath him. His left, metal arm - duel disk not extended due to the need to be able to control the D-wheel with both hands if necessary - was all that kept him from being taken underneath it.

He couldn't do it.

He hadn't been able to do as he had promised his brother. He hadn't been able to save him. He hadn't been able to bring himself to fight fate, to become the 'ultimate god' by using his brother's Signer mark and the powers of the Dark Signers.

And now, he hadn't been able to save his son.

He could only do as he had been doing ever since the war had started.

Believe in Fudo Yuusei and Jack Atlas, and hope that they could do what he could not.


	3. Chapter 3

No longer able to duel as he was unable to keep riding, Rex was forced into watching the rest of the duel unfold from his place on the Geoglyph.

Moments went by as the others still in the fight made their way around another of the Condor's bends. Minutes. He saw turns being taken, knew that Crow was holding nothing back, no more so than when he turned on Jack, directing the Earthbound God's rage and effect at the boy he'd had so much hope in - who he'd spent so much time, energy, resources on, just to get to point. Not for nothing; he was sure that Jack hadn't given up just yet, leaving behind something for his friend to use. But for Rex, it was one more disappointment. One more failure... not only of those around him, but also of his own making.

And yet now everything rested on Yuusei's shoulders. One boy, grown up too fast like all of them had after Zero Reverse, but still a boy. The professor's son, who didn't think twice about taking on everyone's expectations.

Anyone else might have buckled underneath their weight. He... Rex could no longer deny that he _had_. And yet there the boy went, still believing that there was a possibility of survival.

Not even believing. _Certain_, even, that with the feelings of his friends behind him, that the duel could - _had to be_ - won.

Then... the ocean below him began to glow, with a faint, red light that must have been blinding from closer up, before the light vanished entirely. That red glow... surely... it can't have been? His brother's arm with his birthmark on it, likely still in its case, now sinking to the bottom of the channel between Neo Domino and Satellite. Yet he saw the glow from the screen of his broken down D-Wheel, of Yuusei looking at his arm, and in the distance further along the geoglyph as Jack looked at his own, and then further away smaller glows of light as three others received the mark of the Crimson Dragon.

The marks were reacting to something, that was for sure, and it did seem as though something was different, although he didn't know what.

But with that, the marks were now all reacting, and within moments were all realigned on Yuusei's back.

Then - never... not up close, not in person, never had he seen such a thing _in person_, so to speak. The Crimson Dragon's power incarnate as one of the Signers' dragons - the 'Saviour Star Dragon', in this case, as Yuusei called it.

_"No matter what you try, I'm not about to give up on you, Crow! Not me, or any of the others! You think you're fighting for your kids... we'll make sure nothing like this happens to them ever again! And if that's how you feel... what do you think that person feels about you?!" _The dragon roared, lighting up the night sky as it flew after Yuusei, keeping pace until its summoner called the attack. _"We're not just doing this because we want to save the world - it's because that's what a bond is! And bonds like ours can't be broken that easily!"_

Saviour Star Dragon shot clear through the Condor, destroying the Earthbound God in one attack and with it, the rest of Crow's lifepoints as the God cried out one last time and disappeared along with any other cards still set on the field, leaving Crow himself alone on the field, bike forcibly drawing to a halt with his loss. Yuusei riding as as fast as he could to catch up, to be there in time, and yet...

"_Crow? Crow?!"_

Rex's eyes widened the moment he realised what must be going on. Crow, then... just like the others...

_No... no...!_

Shooting Star Dragon hadn't yet finished, however, making a swift turn and heading straight back toward the King of the Underworld, this time surrounded by the Crimson Dragon's raw power. Rex steadied himself, knowing that unless a miracle happened, they would all be left in the sea when the Condor's geoglyph finally disappeared. And Crow... Crow and Yuusei were several bends short of the other side, too far to reach in such a short amount of time.

The Blackbird began to slow, the automatic braking system coming into play as the Hellgod was destroyed, with no sign of Crow to be seen.

The Condor Geoglyph shone like gold, and then scattered like shimmering dust.

_Crow..._

...

It was dark, where he'd found himself. Dark, and cold, even with the cloak around his shoulders. It was funny, though, he thought. He hadn't imagined death to feel like anything. Not 'real' death. The other one had kinda been cut short by a bastard featherbrain of a 'god' butting in.

Not like he wanted it to have stuck. That would've royally sucked, being dead, as if what he'd ended up as hadn't been far worse.

But still. This wasn't what he'd expected. And he was sure he could hear voices...

_Yuusei...? And... someone else? 'M sure I know that voice from somewhere, damn it..._

But too much of him was too tired, too spent, to care. He'd felt himself disappear, he'd _felt it_.

_"They're going to wake up soon,_" that almost recognised voice was saying. _"Make sure you look after them... and my brother, could you?"_

Wait, brother? What? He was missing something here. He had to be.

_"He lost everyone, and I'm partly to blame for that, so he never learned what it meant to be a father."_

_What...?_

_"But- Rudger!"_

Rudger. That was it. The voice, he'd heard it before in that duel. Yuusei... he'd been, not losing, but questioning himself, and this person...

Rex Godwin's brother.

_"Please tell Rex I'm sorry I couldn't come back for him as well could you, Fudo Yuusei? And that it- is good to see my nephew with my own eyes... even like this, just this once."_

His... nephew?

_"RUDGER!"_

And then, he was... breathing again. Not the fakery that being a Dark Signer had made of life, but... actually breathing.

And for some reason, he couldn't keep himself from crying. The others weren't quite awake yet, and he couldn't bring himself to care about that just yet anyway.

All of the things he'd done. The things he _might have_ done. The things he might as well have, for all that he'd been stopped, because he'd _meant to_, and oh _god._

The tears wouldn't stop, and maybe it was that which made it easier for the others to realise that he wasn't asleep still, or maybe it was the fact that he was sitting up instead of lying down, knees drawn up to his chest and arms wrapped around his legs, shoulders shaking.

As much as he hated what he'd found himself still in, he didn't have the strength to tear any of it off just yet. This was what he'd let himself become, wasn't it? What the hell reason was there to lie about it? He was... he was just as bad as any of them, when it came down to it...

Arms. Arms around him, without warning. Strong, gentle, careful. A feeling that reminded him of Martha, if that was possible, but Martha wasn't here, and it didn't feel like Martha anyway, so who-

"Alive... you're _alive_-!"

_Godwin?_ It was hard to believe given all of the emotion, when the man had never been like this before.

All of the things the man had said during the duel, and all of the things Crow had thrown back at him, resurfaced violently, and he flinched away.

"Get..." He drew in a sharp, painful breath around the now sore eyes and scratchy throat. "Get... _away_ from me, you..."

Godwin stilled, but didn't move.

"I've almost lost you twice now," he said, getting his voice under control again. "Although you may not agree with the decision... I won't be making those mistakes again."

The grip did loosen, however. Not gone, but looser. For the same reason that he hadn't torn off the black and purple yet, he couldn't bring himself to throw off the comfort of who'd done... all that... just for him.

He rubbed at his eyes, opening them just slightly when he heard voices.

_Bright_. That was the first thing he noticed. The second was Yuusei, looking back at him in concern, but obviously more worried about his state of mind than the fact that Rex Freaking Godwin had his arms around him.

And speaking of Yuusei, he was a few feet away. Talking with a reluctant Kiryu who wouldn't meet his eyes. Jack was likewise with a woman with long, dark hair, and he was... holding out glasses to her? Aki was talking to some person he was sure he recognised from magazine, and...

He shuddered.

Footsteps. Boots on pavement. He looked over again only to find that Kiryu was hanging out over at the 'side' of the group, leaning against something with eyes as dead as Crow felt inside.

Despite himself, he laughed, brokenly. _Man, we're a really messed up bunch._

"Crow...?"

"..."

Yuusei sighed, and sat down on the ground next to them. Godwin adjusted himself, still irritatingly leaving one arm around his shoulders.

"Crow... I meant what I said back there. And the same goes for the rest of us. I'm not about to give up on any of you. None of us are."

"And if you feel like leaving," Jack said, the woman he'd been talking to now staring at her glasses, confused and apparently unaware of anything that'd happened for a good while, "then you've got another thing coming!"

He felt rather than saw Godwin nod from behind and to the side. "Along with any and all customary duties involved in bringing the city back to its former glory, I would like it if you would watch as I fulfill a particular promise I made to the two of you."

"Eh?" That was... the first he'd heard of any _promise_.

Yuusei apparently knew more than he did, however.

"You'll finish the construction of the Daedalus Bridge, then," he said seriously.

Godwin inclined his head slightly, to which the others surrounding him - even Kiryu, several feet away from where they were sitting - reacted with surprise. Crow himself stilled, remembering the conversation in the Old Momentum research facility. Remembering their words during the duel.

"I see no reason to keep Satellite and Neo Domino separate any longer. If in fact they should have been in the first place," he said pensively, and Crow wondered if he was remembering how so many in both areas had died, how so many places completely destroyed. "With the completion of the bridge, we should be able to start repairing Satellite itself."

"Aah," said Yuusei, leaning back against Crow, apparently not caring that they'd been fighting mere minutes before and that at that point, Crow would have been quite happy to have seen his friend _dead_. "That's good."

Even so, he couldn't argue against that.

_Satellite and the City joined up at last, huh? Looks like the 'Legendary D-Wheeler' finally got what he wanted,_ he thought to himself, not wanting to vocalise those thoughts just yet. _Took him long enough._

And somehow... through some miracle... he'd be able to see it happen.

...

AN: For some reason, it took me forever to get the first few lines properly going. And then it seemed to flow within a matter of _days_. Seriously.

I think a few of the points here were toned down from when I first conceived the idea, but I think it works out; I actually managed to get one plot point in when I'd almost _forgotten _it, although I'm not saying what that is.

Because it's such an interesting concept and it gives the opportunity for quite a few funny moments, I'm not going to _completely _stop here. Although I don't know how long the chapters are going to be from here on out, I'm going to see if I can get more scenes and moments done from the rest of the series.

And this is the end of the stuff I've already gotten written up for the story! For anything else, you're going to have to wait until it's written. Sorry. But I thought that since I'd reached the end of the main action that I'd originally planned on writing out, I'd share this over on FF rather than just keep it back.


	4. Chapter 4

They made a strange sight, up until the point where several ambulances arrived quietly onto the scene, sirens unneeded, and those in the area looked among themselves mostly in confusion until Rex Godwin stood up and explained - with no room for any argument - that they were all going to be checked over by qualified doctors.

When one or two did complain, he stated bluntly that most of them there had been dead up until less than an hour ago, and the rest had been in life-threatening situations, so he wasn't about to let them head off potentially with injuries or repurcussions the Crimson Dragon may or may not have failed to heal. After which, he added, they could do whatever they liked.

Kiryu was, unsurprisingly given his past, one of the last in, having been eyeing the vehicles with suspicion since they'd arrived. Crow, who'd been trying to avoid everyone else up until then, sighed and shoved his old friend lightly around the shoulder.

"Just get on with it, yeah?" Kiryu stared him, incredulous, and Crow didn't know whether it was more due to his words or his current give-away appearance. "Y' aren't gonna be arrested again unless you do something really _stupid_, way I figure. So stop worrying."

"In case you'd forgotten," the revived Dark Signer of the Giant said slowly, "I killed people. A _lot_ of people. I tried to kill _Yuusei_."

Crow shrugged, shoulders hunched. "And?"

_"WHAT-?!"_

"They're alive _now_, I meant!" he interrupted, before Kiryu could explode any more from the misunderstanding. "They're alive now, and you... you weren't the only one who messed up."

Kiryu stared, slowly seeming to realise the implications and how everything added up, and Crow averted his gaze, dragging a hand through his hair before turning on his heel and heading to the last ambulance, figuring that Kiryu would do what he liked as always, follow him or not.

Moments after Crow had settled himself down, they heard footsteps, and then the door closed. Neither looked up at the other, or at anyone else, or to wonder where they were, making the journey pass tensely, yet without event.

They were the last to arrive. Which wasn't surprising, given that they were the last to leave. Once they got out, they were met by the woman, Mikage - or at least, that's what Crow thought her name was - who bowed to them as they came closer.

"Godwin-sama instructed me to wait here for your arrival, and to show you to where he and the others were taken. If you would follow me, please."

She met their eyes, settling first on Kiryu with understandable suspicion and distrust, given her last encounter with him, and Kiryu returned the look with a level one of his own. But when she turned to Crow himself...

There was something else there. An uneasy sense of uncertainty, and of fearful respect that made him feel, yet again, like he was ready to throw up.

He was glad to see her turn her back on them in order to lead them to where the others were. Anything not to see that face. To move, to focus on something else, and... not on the way he'd started to shake because of it.

Kiryu sent an unreadable glance his way, but didn't say anything, for which he was infinitely grateful. He didn't think he could have explained even if he hadn't felt sick from all of this.

The trip to the elevator and then up several floors was spent in silence, which was perfectly fine by all occupants - right up until they stopped and got out (at which point Crow belatedly realised that Mikage had been using the service key, so that no one else would get in with them) when they were assaulted with noise.

It was a shock to the system after so much silence, but although Crow noticed that Kiryu's expression hadn't really changed from the morbidly depressed one he'd been wearing since he'd first woken up, he himself couldn't help but smile even just a bit at the sight of the twins running up to the elevator with grins on their faces at seeing them coming into the hall.

"Ah- guys..."

"Crow's back! HOI, Yuusei! Crow's here!"

"Rua... keep your voice down. We're still in a hospital!"

"Ah- ahaha... It's all right, Ruka! Godwin basically sectioned off the entire _floor!"_

Neither of them seemed to notice Crow's slight flinch at the man's name, although he was too busy looking around the place for Yuusei - who'd stuck his head up at Rua's call with a smile - to realise that Kiryu had, and was watching him curiously.

The smile he'd started to wear for the twins dropped a little at the sight of Yuusei being seen to by a doctor, who was checking to make sure that his earlier stomach wound suffered during his first duel against Kiryu, hadn't been allowed to get _worse_.

"The doctor's said most of us aren't allowed even to use a normal _Duel Disk _for at least a _week_! Can you _believe_ that?"

"_Rua_..."

The boy seemed to realise that this wasn't perhaps the best of subjects for the moment, bright smile wavering, but quickly bolstered by other thoughts.

"But you're all right, yea? You're looking a _lot _better than you did before, and Yuusei and Jack were worried, and it was real weird because so was _Godwin-"_

"Who I'm sure would be very pleased to know that the last two have arrived, Rua, Ruka," Mikage said, having apparently been over to talk to someone with a clipboard. "Crow-san, if you'd like to choose somewhere - I'm sure your friends would like to see you." A raised eyebrow came with the message, and, remembering how his own kids were like - _oh god the kids how were they what if something had happened while he was away_ - he knew that he wouldn't have had any peace even if he'd tried to find somewhere on his own. "Kiryu-san, if you'd come this way, please, the doctor over here has a few questions for you..."

She lead Kiryu away to a guy who looked like he was more than just a bit stressed out by all this, and the snippet of conversation he caught before they headed off and he himself went to find somewhere to sit while taking off at least the 'cloak' part of his stupid outfit, made him snigger despite himself - something about 'all these people whose records state them as _dead'_, and 'how am I supposed to know what's accurate on these records?'.

As he passed a bin, the piece of the Dark Signer robes he'd taken off was dumped in unceremoniously. The rest - his shirt was fine if not something he wanted to keep any more, but the pants _weren't _ and would have to _go _- would have to be dealt with later.

"Crow."

He turned around, eyes wide and wondering how Yuusei had managed to get there so quickly.

"Yuusei! Ha, I thought you were-"

"I came because I thought you'd want to know. I contacted Blitz, Nerve and the others. The kids are fine."

It was like a weight had been shifted from his shoulders, and he found himself deflating on the spot. The one thing he'd truly been worried about - the one thing his mind had fixated on when the Earthbound had their hold on him, even when Godwin was saying all those... _things_ - and they were fine. They were _fine_.

Then Yuusei was taking him over to where he and the others were, saying how the Blackbird was back to normal (thank goodness for _that_) and it'd been arranged for it to be picked up along with the other D-Wheels and brought to the hospital's car park until something better could be arranged.

Once they got nearer, he could hear Jack talking to that girl he'd noticed before.

"A-ah-ahhhh! But I said I couldn't remember! And it's just not _fair_- I mean, this could've been a _big scoop_-!"

"Just be lucky you're still alive!"

"I am, I am...! But... My _scoop_..." There was a short pause. "And my _glasses!"_

"I saved your glasses!"

"I know, but now they're broken- ah! I'm not blaming you!"

"Good, because it wasn't my fault!"

"And I said I _wasn't_- AHA! YOU!"

It was one of the stranger things to happen since getting to the hospital, getting excitably pointed at by a woman who was also dressed in Dark Signer robes, but as he'd overheard, didn't have her glasses - and therefore was focusing rather badly and pointing ever so slightly to the left of his face.

"Er, what?" A glance to the side at Yuusei didn't help - he looked like he was trying not to laugh.

"You could tell me something! What it was like!"

If it was anything else, any other time, then a pretty girl asking him for something - anything, really - in an outfit like that would've got an instant 'yes', but with Jack having a glare and a sympathetic look vying for control over him and his own feelings, that was more or less an impossibility.

"Sorry," he said with the best smile he could muster up, "kinda wishing I could forget _myself_, actually, haha..."

"Ah... okay..."

"Fudo-kun? I thought I told you to _rest_." Wasn't that the doctor from before?" "And Crow-san. If you could come with me just a moment."

"Ah- but Fujishima-sensei, I _am_ resting..."

"I'll believe that when I see proof of it, Fudo-kun," the doctor said dryly, before going into the cubicle next to Jack's.

They were only separated with thick, hospital-level curtains, so he could still hear the conversations going on outside, if faintly, but there was some privacy.

The examination was a short one, which showed - more or less as he'd expected - that there was nothing wrong with him. What did have him confused was that every so often, the doctor would refer to a few sheets attached to a clipboard, sometimes writing down a few notes.

When he asked what it was, he supposed he should have expected the answer.

"It's your medical file, Crow-san. Security wasn't exactly all that thorough, but we were able to get some things out of the data, as well as your friends... and the Director."

"The- wait, _Godwin_?"

The doctor nodded absently, not seeming to be taken aback as much by the information as Crow was.

"Godwin-sama _did_ put himself down as your next of kin, if that helps to explain things. Here, you can have a look - it's hardly as though any of this should be kept from you when it pertains to your own health."

He held the clipboard out, and... there it was. Written out in neat, precise handwriting. His name. Age. Date of birth. Blood type - had he even ever needed to know that _himself?_ He had to have, right? There were a few things later on, in the 'medical history' section, where he could recognise Yuusei's, and sometimes even _Jack's_ handwriting, but...

"What the hell..."

"You arrived late, and well after everyone was finished with their own. So they must have decided to help fill in the details themselves, rather than wait for you."

"That wasn't what I meant. How... how did _that guy_ know all this? _How_?"

His hands were shaking as he gave the board back. He didn't want to see it any more.

The hospital, he could take. The whole floor, that made sense - keep the press coverage down. But this...?

They could've put Martha down. Or Yuusei, or Jack, hell, even his _kids_.

But _Godwin_? For Godwin to put _himself_ down? A rather large part of him wondered where the hell he thought he had the _right_, while the rest of him simply floundered in confusion.

"I'm afraid," the doctor answered, "I can't answer that. Even if I did know, it would likely be down to patient confidentiality. But I'm sure you're more than welcome to ask him yourself."

Crow couldn't help but roll his eyes. _Yeah, right. Ask the Director of freaking Security why he knows so much about some damn Satellite brat?_

It could have been a lie. To get him to see sense, which he did. The problem with that was, if Godwin had been lying, then why was he _still going along with it_? And why was _everyone else_?

They were treating him differently. Yuusei... he bet Yuusei _believed_ Godwin. Jack shot him odd looks sometimes. That woman, who'd shown them here... the way she'd _looked at him_. As though he were suddenly someone else, worthy of some kind of respect even after trying to _kill _his friends, and _damn_ _the world_.

By the time he came back out, doctor satisfied that he wasn't about to keel over any time soon, he'd half-convinced himself that someone had put Godwin up to it as some kind of sick joke.

He asked Yuusei who'd told Godwin his birthday, all those other things, wondering idly if it was him. Yuusei just looked at him strangely, and said that he'd not known whose the handwriting was until then.

Jack rolled his eyes and just said that when he was new to Neo Domino, the man had done the same for him - although that was without Jack knowing that _next of kin_ detail - but, he also added, it might've had something to do with how if anyone had known he was Satellite-native back then, everything would've been for _nothing_, Godwin would've been shown up, and he'd never have been King.

Which had Carly shoot up out of her seat like she'd just been told there was a bomb under it or something, shouting something about "Paper! _Paper_! Has _anyone_ got a _pen_-?!", and if it weren't for what they'd just gone through and what Carly was _wearing_, he'd have been teasing Jack about the look on his face as he watched her run around the hall, disrupting everyone, for _weeks_.

Who'd have even thought it? Jack Atlas, got by the love bug! Heh...

The thoughts from before wouldn't stop bothering him. What-ifs and maybes, while Rua showed off - as he'd apparently been doing before Crow had arrived - his new mark of the dragon. The tail, right there on his arm.

His own hadn't been on an arm. It had been on his back, glowing through his clothes so that everyone could see it, no doubt.

_" I had intended to do something - something drastic - that would have put me in your place, Crow."_

Godwin's words from... how could it be only _hours ago_? He couldn't believe that it had been so short a time, but he remembered them all too well. If he'd meant to do that... an image of Godwin with black eyes and with the smaller form of the geoglyph etched into his own back came to mind, and he shook his head to clear away the disturbing thought.

Mikage came back for a few minutes maybe half an hour after that, just to announce that their D-Wheels had been safely transported into the hospital's underground car park. At which point one of the medics stated, quite firmly, that they were _not _to go anywhere near them until they were told they were allowed to.

Which earned the inevitable cold looks of those who obviously weren't going to listen from all those affected.

The twins were the first to be found having fallen asleep, Yuusei having gone looking when they couldn't hear Rua's voice shouting something or other any more. It'd been a long day - a long _week_ - and no one blamed them. After that, despite it being the middle of the morning, one by one conversations began to drop off as adrenaline ceased flowing and the full impact of what had happened dropped onto them.

Crow stayed awake, even when the only other person he could hear not asleep was Carly, still writing something out after her epiphany earlier. As far as he could tell, she'd been so caught up in what she was writing that she hadn't even bothered to change.

He heard the elevator doors open at one point, just as he himself was dropping off, and voices - some familiar, some not - speaking quietly not far from where he was, before seeming to pause outside of the curtains.

He must have fallen asleep before they left, because on waking later on, when the sun was setting, he couldn't remember anyone's footsteps going away again.

He'd woken up before everyone else, Carly's head resting on her arm and a cheap biro held loosely in her hand as he walked quietly past through the still-sleeping noises and occasional snores.

Over to the elevator, and then, deciding the better for it, going over to the stairs instead, figuring that since he'd been given something else to wear he wouldn't be noticed straight away.

It was a long climb down, he found, but the basement was clearly labeled once he got there, and he found himself looking at familiar bikes soon enough. Yuusei's, Jack's Wheel of Fortune, a non-descript yet expensive-looking one that looked badly beaten up, and there... the Blackbird. Back to normal.

He breathed a sigh of relief, and tentatively touched the paintwork. No sign of the damage taken, either from before or after the... change. Nothing. Still the same old Blackbird.

He started to work by doing some simple tests - was that working, or what about that? Were the electrics bothered by anything? Were the wings in working order?

Wings. There'd been stumps there when he'd found the old hunk of metal she'd been built from. Almost from scratch, a little help, but his bike, all in all.

There'd been _wings on Blackbird before_.

He shook his head, and carried on.

Wings... appeared to be working. But... a failure. Just _there_. Small, unlikely to be noticed until mid-flight, but...

_For the second time in days, he was flying, and free, or-_

_Should have been, because now he wasn't flying any more, he was _falling._ Falling, crashing and burning and all he could think about were the kids, oh gods the kids the kids the KIDS-_

The wings needed fixing. Something must've jolted the mechanism.

_"You're Icarus, Crow!"_

And they'd named the bridge _Daedalus_.

_Pt-d. Pt-d._

He brought a wrist up to stop the flow, but the tears kept coming. Carefully, with blurring vision, he put the tool down, and instead leaned back against the bike and let them flow.


End file.
